What to Watch for in Online Estate Planning

Some Online or special software prepared Estate Planning Documents can work well.  Others, not so well.

I tend to see three problems that Online documents generally fall victim to:

First, inconsistent and sometimes contradictory provisions can be included, many times by accident.  Often these Online “form” Wills or Trusts have alternative provisions covering the same topic.  The purpose is for the person creating the document to choose between the alternatives.  If the creator doesn’t understand that purpose, these conflicting provisions will be added to the final formalized Will. What unwittingly happens is that the creator intended to leave clear instructions for his or her estate, but in some cases actually inflicted greater harm than not drafting an Estate Plan.

Second, the aspect of Estate Planning that requires the most care is hardly given a second thought in Online documents, the Signing. Many perfectly good documents can become invalid only because the necessary formalities were not observed while the document was being signed.  Generally, a person should gather two witnesses and a notary public together. Have all of them sign at the same time and in the presence of each other and then have the notary certifies that he or she watched the document being signed by all the others.

Finally, certain people believe saving a few hundred dollars on documents that are intended to direct the disbursement and receipt of their lifetime accomplishments is a great deal. However, they realized the importance of creating an Estate Plan, but didn’t quite understand that importance or they would not have taken that shortcut.  Also, the choice of guardians for minor children is often of even greater importance than the disposition of one’s possessions.  To cut corners on a document that will determine the family in which your minor children will be raised is a foolish choice.

While not proclaiming that it cannot be done, you should be very cautious about using an Online document for a task as important as this, especially without the availability of Counsel.

Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to take the first step towards creating your complete estate plan! With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now: (208) 477-1785.

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Really? A Will Only Costs That Much?

Money. Often that is what keeps us from pursuing or accomplishing tasks we know we should take care of. Especially, when the price is unknown.

At Jeppesen Law, we try to not be the obstacle in your way of creating an estate plan. This is done in two steps.

First, a free initial consultation is available to all clients to discuss Wills,Trusts, and Probate.  This allows me and the client to meet.  During the meeting we will discuss the client’s circumstances and family dynamics. We talk about the client’s options, prices for those options, and the pros and cons of those options.  After the meeting, I decide whether or not I want to work with the client and the client decides whether or not they want to work with me.

Second, all Estate Planning options are available for a guaranteed price. That means you can know, with certainty, how much you will spend on your estate plan before I even start drafting the documents.

Wills are offered at the following prices: $445 for an individual Will; $635 for a married couple’s Wills. For new parents, they can get their Wills for $550.

So, now that you know what you will pay if you work with Jeppesen Law, call and set up that free initial consultation to see if we are a good fit to work together. 208-477-1785

Visit Jeppesenlaw.com

What Took So Long?

Does a Will Matter to Me, I'm Single Without Children

Most people hear that they should create a Will or Trust. But, why? Why do you need to create a Will or Trust? Depending on your situation, you might not feel the need to and that’s ok. If you decide you don’t need to create a Will or Trust, you should at least understand what you are facing in order to make an informed decision.

Every person has a different family dynamic. That dynamic changes what will happen if you die without a Will or Trust, which is called Intestate Succession. The Idaho Code (our law) describes the Intestate Estate as any part of the estate of a decedent (deceased person) not effectively disposed of by his Will. Idaho Code 15-2-101.

In this post, we will cover a single person without children. What will happen to his estate, or his stuff when he passes away. But, Estate Planning also covers what will happen if you become incapacitated or incompetent, so we will cover that too.

First, if you do not have a spouse or children, then everything you own will be divided equally between your legal parents. Mom receives half and Dad receives half, even if Mom and Dad are remarried to other people. For some, that is a very clear cut understanding and that is what they would want to have happen. For many others, that is the last thing that they would want to have happen.

With intestate succession, the main idea to remember is that your wishes and wants are disregarded. They do not have a voice. So, you may know that Dad raised you and Mom was never around. Or, Mom raised you and you met Dad once or twice in your lifetime. Does not matter one bit, Mom receives half and Dad receives half.

Sometimes Mom or Dad die before you (predecease). What happens then? Since you have no spouse or children to give gifts to, your estate will go to Mom and Dad’s children evenly.

But, you were an only child, Mom cared for you and is now hurting financially, and Dad had three other children with three other women. Does not matter. Dad, who predeceased you, his other three children will evenly split one-half of your assets, while your Mom (who was your real caregiver, as Dad was never around) receives the other half.

Last scenario. Mom and Dad predecease you and they did not have any other children. Your assets are now split evenly between Mom’s parents and Dad’s parents. In this case, the chances are that most grandparents will predecease everyone previously mentioned. What happens then? Your assets will end up in the hands of your Aunts and Uncles, or their children.

If this is ok with you, maybe having a Will is not necessary. Just remember, your wishes and wants do not matter in Intestate Succession.

Still, what is the point of planning if Idaho already creates a plan for you? Answer, Idaho’s plan is limited. It only covers death and assets. There is more to planning than that.

A Will names a legal representative called a Personal Representative (PR) that is charged with administering your estate after you pass away. The PR is tasked with representing your estate in probate court, notifying your Creditors of your passing (which is actually a good thing for you), accounting for all of your assets, and distributing your assets at the close of probate. If your estate is Intestate, you have no PR. Anyone in the world can apply for this position. There are also PR fees and because of that, there are professional PRs that charge a hefty price for their services. That can be avoided by naming a PR in your Will.

Part of your Will package should include Powers of Attorney. These come into play if you become incapacitated or incompetent. They represent you in financial situations or health care situations. I don’t know about you, but I want someone I know and trust to make financial or medical decisions for me if I can’t. Imagine needing a Guardian because an accident or Alzheimer's left you unable to care for yourself. Would you want to choose who will care for you if you can’t do it yourself?

But, if you don’t plan and this becomes a need, again anyone can apply for the job. These people can then seek reimbursement from you for the court costs and attorney’s fees spent.

Everything we plan for, will eventually need to be addressed. The planning we do now serves three purposes; 1) limits those who can represent you to those people that you choose, 2) limits costs from reimbursement and fees paid out, and 3) limits time spent in court. This last one is a valuable consideration.

So, if you are comfortable with your assets being distributed as mentioned above, you are willing to roll the dice that nothing will ever put you in the situation of needing a power of attorney or a guardian, and you do not shy away from the extra costs involved, then you might not need to create a Will or Trust. Your call.

Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to take the first step towards creating your complete estate plan! With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we'd love to help!

Contact Jeppesen Law now: (208) 477-1785.

Estate Planning with Digital Assets

     With each passing day, our society becomes more technology dependant. To illustrate this point, try going an entire day without the use of a smart phone, laptop, touchscreen, or old fashioned desktop.

     As always, the world of estate planning has fallen behind on this trend. Traditional estate planning concerns physical assets, like a house, vehicle, or bank account. In light of this ever increasing involvement of technology in our lives, what should happen to our digital assets when we are incapacitated or pass away? Is there anything we can do?

     First, let’s start with whether there is anything we can do. Here in good old Idaho, we have actually made a proactive step. Nationally, a legal group think-tank called the Uniform Law Commission set out to create a uniform law for all states to either adopt, modify, or reject, called the Fiduciary Access to Digital Property During Incapacitation or After Death act. Idaho was the fifth (5th) state in the US to adopt a law concerning the ability to access digital property. 

      Idaho Statutes § 15-3-715(28), signed into law March 16, 2011, gives the personal representative of a deceased person’s estate the powers “to take control of, conduct, continue, or terminate” a deceased person’s e-mail account, social networking account, microblogging account, or short messaging service Web site. Idaho Statutes § 15-5-424(3)(z) also grants similar powers to a person’s conservator. Unfortunately, these laws fall short of the current scope of online accounts and digital property, and they only apply to personal representatives and conservators.

     But, fear not, although this law falls short of the current technological landscape for online accounts, this is only a default rule. This means you can give any trusted person more access than the default rule calls for. In our will or trust agreements, we authorize more access than the statute allows.

     Jeppesen Law, PLLC provides to all of our estate planning clients a digital property inventory. On the inventory, the client writes down all usernames and passwords for all of their digital property. They store it in a safe place. If the time comes that a power of attorney or personal representative needs access to online accounts, they have all the information they need to ensure you are taken care of.

     What type of information is included on the digital property inventory? Aside from the accounts listed in the Idaho Statute, we include utilities, bank accounts, mortgage companies, services, and anything that would require a monthly fee to be paid.

     Why do we include so much information? We are preparing for incapacitation. If you are temporarily incapacitated, you would still want your house payment to stay current, with the lights on, internet to still work, and you wouldn’t want your car repossessed.

     Essentially, your attorney-in-fact stands in your place to ensure your bills are paid when you would pay them.

     Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to take the first step towards creating your own estate plan! With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now: (208) 477-1785.

Estate Planning DIY Dangers

We all have tried to save money by doing something ourselves instead of paying someone else to do it for us. In many instances this is a great practice; you learn a new skill, save money, and gain confidence. This snowballs into continuing to try DIY projects, save money, and gain confidence. This is especially helpful with a beginner-safe project.

If you have tried DIY projects before, you have probably run into situations where you realized you needed help from a spouse, neighbor, friend, or professional. That is the great aspect about DIY projects, if you aren’t equipped with the knowledge to complete the task, you learn this quickly.

Unfortunately, for DIY Estate Planners, you will never realize you aren’t equipped for the job. The ones learning that lesson will be the loved ones you leave behind after you died. To make matters worse, in many cases the cost of fixing this problem is more expensive than paying the professional to do it for you.

There are great professionals like Dave Ramsey or companies like Nolo and Legalzoom that champion the idea of getting an Estate Plan in place to provide you and your family the protections that they afford. They know it is important, that is why they tell you to do it. They also tell you things like this, “We are not a law firm or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. We cannot provide any kind of advice, explanation, opinion, or recommendation about possible legal rights, remedies, defenses, options, selection of forms or strategies.”

As attorneys, we are called counselors-at-law. Which means we counsel people in regards to their legal matters.

If Dave Ramsey, Legalzoom, and NOLO are correct and an Estate Plan is that important, why would I trust such an important decision to a stack of papers I purchased off of the internet with any counsel? I encourage you to search for, not purchase, wills or trust documents online and read them. Do you understand in plain English what the provisions are saying? Do you understand the legal consequence of what the provisions are saying? What if it is missing a provision that would greatly affect your family? Last but not least, unfortunately this is the one I see the most, does the document even meet the minimum standards required by law in the state you live in?

What these websites have done is create an awareness for Estate Planning attorneys, especially when it comes to our pricing. Hypothetically, if our prices are so high that people are willing to risk taking a shot in the dark by doing their own Estate Plan as opposed to seeking our counsel, maybe we should reevaluate our pricing structure. Also, they have provided some much needed education to the general public regarding Estate Planning. The negative consequence is that people without the minimum seven years of post high school education and yearly continuing legal education classes focused solely on legal matters, are making very important legal decisions. They will never know whether their decisions were correct or not.

I invite you to read this commentary about some pitfalls this attorney has seen first hand caused by faults made in a DIY Estate Plan.

http://www.record-bee.com/guestcommentary/ci_27356067/your-legacy-and-peace-mind-pitfalls-do-it

Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to take the first step towards creating your complete estate plan! With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now. (208) 477-1785

Young Adults Need An Estate Plan

When a young person dies, it is generally sudden and unexpected. With youth and health, Estate Planning is not a priority. Except when death happens and those you leave behind would have been better off if you took the time to create a Will or a Trust.

When Glee star Cory Monteith passed away, he had an estate worth over $800,000 and had not taken the time to create a Will or Trust. Because of this lack of planning, it took over a year and a half for his estate to settle. You see without creating an Estate Plan of your own, your estate follows intestate rules found in Idaho’s State Statutes.

If you were in Cory’s position, single and without children, your mother and father would receive an equal share of your remaining assets.

In Cory’s situation, his divorced parents fought that entire time over whether his father was deserving of receiving one-half of Cory’s estate. Mom claimed Dad was an absentee father, who hadn’t seen Cory in years, and refused to pay child support. Eventually, Dad signed an agreement stating he did not want his legal share of Cory’s estate, but this was after much public humiliation.

Because the Probate court process is public, the bickering between his parents became news-worthy. Granted, if Cory had a Will, his estate would have still gone through Probate. However, with a Will, Cory could have dictated who he wanted to leave his estate to.

To add insult to injury, Cory’s money was probably being used to defend the State’s laws giving both parents an equal share of their son’s estate.

What about what Cory would have wanted? He had a serious relationship with Glee co-star Lea Michelle, certainly he would have wanted to leave her something. Tough. Without making your own Will or Trust, your particular wants are irrelevant. The Probate court will rely on the intestate statute of the state you live in, which generally provides what a general distribution would look like for someone in a similar situation.

Have you ever wondered how old intestate laws are? Most of them are very old. Imagine how different society and what we consider family is now, compared to a law originally written in the 1700 or 1800s.

So, regardless of how old you are, if you want certain people to receive a portion of your estate, or more importantly, if you have people you absolutely do not want to see receive any of your estate, make your decision known. Create a Will or Trust, otherwise a bunch of guys who are long gone will make that decision for you.

Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to take the first step towards creating your complete estate plan! With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now. (208) 477-1785

See Danielle Mayoras & Andy Mayoras, Cory Monteith Shows How Even Young Adults Need Wills, Forbes, Jan. 28, 2015.